College savings for kids?

[DawnM]

We have saved, but not in a 529 plan. We didn't want the $$ tied to college costs only. We don't know where they will go or how much they will need.

A friend of ours saved $40K and their first child quit after the first semester and their second son had so many scholarships and work studies that he won't use the full amount.

We have enough for all 3 to attend our local 4 year school without any scholarships or aid for tuition, fees, and books, and possibly even transportation. Anything other than that (if they choose a different school or choose to live outside of our home) they will need to find a way to cover. Basically that will be roughly $30K per child without transportation at today's rate ($7.5K per year). I realize our local 4 year state school is a very good deal and we are glad it is here, although where we lived before had great priced state schools as well.

 

[imsayin]

We have saved, but not in a 529 plan. We didn't want the $$ tied to college costs only. We don't know where they will go or how much they will need.

A friend of ours saved $40K and their first child quit after the first semester and their second son had so many scholarships and work studies that he won't use the full amount.

You can withdraw money in a 529 up to the amount of the scholarship without paying a penalty. You do have to pay taxes on the earnings.

 

[staceyeileen]

We have the Florida prepaid 2+2 plan for my 5yo son, and we'll probably be getting another one for my infant daughter once registration for it begins again in January. It pays tuition for 2 years at a state college and 2 years at a university. It's $112/mo for my son and will be $148/mo for my daughter.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We have saved, but not in a 529 plan. We didn't want the $$ tied to college costs only. We don't know where they will go or how much they will need.

A friend of ours saved $40K and their first child quit after the first semester and their second son had so many scholarships and work studies that he won't use the full amount.

We have enough for all 3 to attend our local 4 year school without any scholarships or aid for tuition, fees, and books, and possibly even transportation. Anything other than that (if they choose a different school or choose to live outside of our home) they will need to find a way to cover. Basically that will be roughly $30K per child without transportation at today's rate ($7.5K per year). I realize our local 4 year state school is a very good deal and we are glad it is here, although where we lived before had great priced state schools as well.

Your local state university is a bargain at $7500 a year! The state universities where I live are $7500 a semester for tuition and mandatory fees. Room and board adds another $5300 a semester. Books are $600ish a semester. On top of that we bought the required laptop computer the first year for $1400. Yikes!

 

[chartle]

Our plan was for my wife to work for the local major university (Pitt). 100% free tuition, but not anything else people would normally not think of like extra Computer Lab fees.

 

[DawnM]

Your local state university is a bargain at $7500 a year! The state universities where I live are $7500 a semester for tuition and mandatory fees. Room and board adds another $5300 a semester. Books are $600ish a semester. On top of that we bought the required laptop computer the first year for $1400. Yikes!

Yes, we know we are fortunate. And the school is fairly well ranked as well.

I am not including a laptop or room and board or any other incidentals.

 

[DawnM]

You can withdraw money in a 529 up to the amount of the scholarship without paying a penalty. You do have to pay taxes on the earnings.

There was something that didn't qualify, maybe the work study? I will have to ask her. The penalty wasn't huge but it was enough that they wished they had saved elsewhere.

I do hope to head back to work in the next couple of years and my salary will allow the boys to have more choices if they don't wish to go to our local 4 year college.

 

[DawnM]

Our plan was for my wife to work for the local major university (Pitt). 100% free tuition, but not anything else people would normally not think of like extra Computer Lab fees.

Is that a guarantee or just what you hope will happen?

 

[chartle]

Is that a guarantee or just what you hope will happen?

Already has happened.

Son one didn't make it in Engineering and is now on his third try getting an associates in Accounting at community college and son two graduated this past may also with an engineering degree.

 

[DawnM]

Already has happened.

Son one didn't make it in Engineering and is now on his third try getting an associates in Accounting at community college and son two graduated this past may also with an engineering degree.

I meant about your wife working for the college.

 

[chartle]

I meant about your wife working for the college.

Yes she was and still works for Pitt. She is a lab technician.

 

[DawnM]

Yes she was and still works for Pitt. She is a lab technician.

I see. The initial post made me think it was just something you wanted to happen, not something that had already worked out.

 

[disykat]

I was a SAHM when the kids were little. When they were in elementary school I worked very part time and that money went to extras like cable tv and music lessons. Then I went back to work half time when the kids were in middle school. That money went to paying extra on our mortgage and buying two years each of prepaid tuition.

We paid off our mortgage right before the oldest started college. Then I went to work full time. We saved the prepaid tuition for the two years BOTH kids were in college. We gave the kids a specific number they would be able to receive from us AND made it clear we would not enable them to go into large amounts of debt - they had to choose accordingly. Both kids were told 25K a year max, around 30 if they took out subsidized student loans. They were encouraged to apply to state, private, and dream schools. With scholarship offers, both ended up with multiple choices available to them that fit it the parameters, but one had to eliminate a dream school.

(1)Freed up mortgage money, (2)my working, (3)some prepaid tuition, (4)college choices that fit in our price range. Our kids knew that we had worked very hard to provide this opportunity and did their best to get scholarships, jobs, etc. to contribute as well. We have spent less than our max each year. One just graduated, one is a junior.

It was much easier than we thought it would be. We expected to have to tighten our belts more than we have. If one of our four planned methods for savings had failed us, we still could have done it with minimal debt and a little belt tightening. If two had failed, we probably would have looked at some community college first etc. As it stands, both boys will be starting their lives after college with no debt and some savings from their jobs to help them get started.

Plan and communicate expectations! For us, college was a big priority so we lived and planned accordingly.

Meanwhile, we've been fine living on DH's income and maxing out his retirement contributions at work, keeping us on track for a reasonable retirement. Now, with one child done, my income can go towards travel and boosting MY retirement account - which, although it continued to grow a bit during my nonworking years, obviously took a hit.

We don't live in our dream house, but our dream of sending our kids to college and getting them through without crippling debt has been fulfilled.

 

[tarheel618]

We also bought Florida Prepaid for both kids when they were born. It wasn't that expensive (17K and 26K respectively). We bought 4 years of everything but dorm (only 1 year of dorm) as we figured the kids might want to live off-campus after that. We do have 529 plans to pay for the remainder of housing, meal plans and books. Their college is 100% paid-for if they stay in-state, and Florida has some great universities. We are telling them that if they get Bright Futures, the money in the prepaid that gets refunded is theirs. The prepaid plan is awesome.

We did Florida Prepaid 4 year University plan for tuition when both of my daughters were born. At the time, we couldn't afford the fee or dorm plans but I think Im going to add a 1 year dorm plan for my oldest this year- she's in 8th grade and hopefully add 1 year dorm for my youngest next year. It is a relief that at least the tuition portion of their college is paid for. I can believe that in 5 years my oldest will be off to college. Time has went so fast. My husband and I have been plague with student loan debt and it was something we didn't want for our kids.

Ive been looking at college cost a lot recently realizing room and board is very costly and meal plans (wow). I know we still have more to save in the next five years